This rainy Sunday edition of Lots O’ Stuff contains wrestling, hockey, baseball and softball news.
National Duals
A pair of Jackson County Central students who will be juniors this fall will be representing Minnesota at the 16U National Duals this week in Loves Park, Ill.
Nolan Ambrose and Seth Stai will wrestle for the Minnesota Storm.
The Greco tournament is Wednesday and Thursday, with Freestyle on Friday and Saturday.
Hedquist named draft prospect
NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings ahead of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and Heron Lake native Hobie Hedquist has been listed as a potential draft prospect.
Hedquist, a goaltender with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the British Columbia Hockey League this past season, was listed at No. 27 as a North American goalie.
He compiled a record of 28-9 in his first season in the BCHL. Hedquist was first in the league in minutes played (2470), tied for first in wins (28), second in shutouts (5), sixth in goals against average (2.53) and 10th in save percentage (.909).
The five shutouts tied an Alberni Valley franchise record.
He was named a second-team all-star and a finalist for the BCHL’s Top Goaltender Award.
His numbers increased during the postseason, finishing with a 0.920 save percentage and a 1.98 goals-against average.
Hedquist is committed to the University of North Dakota.
The 2022 NHL Draft takes place on July 7-8 in Montreal.
Miller, Rangers lead 2-0
The New York Rangers and defenseman K'Andre Miller have a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 in their best-of-seven NHL Eastern Conference Finals series.
Game 3 is this afternoon in Tampa.
Miller is the son of 1988 Fairmont High School graduate Amy Sokoloski,
He scored his second goal of the playoffs at 5:59 of the first period in Friday’s 3-2 win over the Lightning at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers’ Twitter account sent out the news:
Miller also made the back page of Saturday’s New York Post:
His first goal of the postseason was in Game 7 of the first round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Also, he has a three-game point streak going.
In 16 playoff games, he has five assists to go with those two goals for seven points.
Miller’s postseason plus-minus is 0 and he has eight penalty minutes. His average of 25 minutes and 11 seconds in ice time per game is second for the Rangers.
Shoen leading MoonDogs
Truman native Derek Shoen has the top batting average for the Mankato MoonDogs and is fourth overall in the Northwoods League.
Shoen is 7-for-15 to start the season, a .467 average. He has two doubles and one home run and has also walked once and been hit by a pitch.
He has an on-base percentage of .529 and slugging percentage of .800.
Shoen has also made one pitching appearance. In one inning he’s allowed three runs (no earned runs) on no hits, walking three and striking out one.
Mankato has a 5-1 record and is in second place in the Northwoods League’s Great Plains West Division, a half-game behind the 5-0 St. Cloud Rox. The MoonDogs are at St. Cloud this afternoon.
Luke Becker
Fairmont graduate Luke Becker is hitting .281 for the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes of the Atlantic League. He has 32 hits in 114 at bats.
Becker is first on the team in runs scored (25), first in runs batted in (23) and second in home runs (6). He also has six doubles, one triple, walked 13 times, an on-base percentage of .349 and a slugging percentage of .509.
The Genomes have a 17-19 record and are in third place in the South Division first half standings.
Bosch, Gators in WCWS
Former Jackson High School softball coach Mike Bosch is an assistant coach with the University of Florida softball team, working with the pitching staff for the Gators, who made it to the Women’s College World Series.
Florida has only allowed three runs in two games in Oklahoma City.
The 14th-seeded Gators opened with a 7-1 win over unseeded Oregon State Thursday before falling 2-0 to No. 7 seed Oklahoma State Saturday.
Florida has an elimination game this afternoon vs. No. 5 seed UCLA.
Bosch joined the Gators in 2018 after compiling a record of 88-65 (.575) in three seasons as head coach at Syracuse University.
He coached high school softball for four seasons, leading Wabasso to state tournament appearances in each of his two seasons there, finishing fifth in 1991. The Rabbits had a 39-10 record in those seasons and he was Region 3A Coach of the Year both years.
Bosch then coached Jackson High School for two seasons, compiling a 29-9 record.
The 1993 Blue Jays placed fourth in the state tournament and Bosch received his third Region 3A Coach of the Year award in as many seasons.
Bosch was head coach at Iowa Lakes Community College from 1997-2010.